Amazon Marketing: The Factors That Lead to Success

But the platform is no longer solely a sales channel for brands: Amazon has now taken on the role of an information and advertising platform, because the majority of product searches on the internet now begin on Amazon. Brands have to be visible there in order to play a role in the customer journey. 

So how can companies strategically use Amazon to their advantage through targeted measures? We explain the fundamentals of Amazon Marketing in this article. 

5 Challenges of Amazon Marketing 

Amazon is a complex ecosystem, characterised by intensive and incredibly agile competition. To be successful with your own brand in the online marketplace long term, it’s important to explore the various possibilities of Amazon marketing. However just like the platform itself, marketing is complex and requires both expertise and experience. There are five key reasons for this:

1. Differing models on Amazon: Vendor vs. Seller

On Amazon, brands aren’t just in competition with other large brands that mainly use the vendor model, but also with smaller sellers that in some cases sell the same products. It’s particularly important here to mention the so-called “FBA-Seller” (Fulfillment by Amazon). These sellers are often very agile and therefore are positioned to react to marketing trends and changes very quickly. They understand how best to use the various Amazon marketing tools for themselves and their products, as well as how to fully exploit their marketing potential. 

We’ve outlined all the differences between vendors and sellers in our big comparison.

2. Competition on Amazon is rising

As discussed above, competition on Amazon in particular is steadily rising: According to Marketplace Pulse in 2020, 1.3 million new sellers worldwide joined one of more of the now 19 Amazon marketplaces. As a result, it is getting harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. However, at the same time, it is now essential to have a presence on the platform and to face the competition.

3. The opportunities of the marketplace are becoming more complex

The requirements of successful Amazon marketing are becoming more and more complex. Amazon is steadily widening the functions of its advertising service, Amazon Advertising. With Sponsored Product-, Sponsored Brand- and Sponsored Display-ads there are different ways to place adverts on Amazon itself, and on other websites through Amazon DSP.

Even the possibilities of how a brand presents itself on Amazon are being continually enhanced: In this context, A+ Content on the product detail page, as well as Amazon Brand Stores offer extensive options.

4. The guidelines of the platform are forever changing

Amazon is subject to constant change: There are often changes to the guidelines, for example, the required specification of standardised sizing when it comes to clothing, or the strict policies regarding the return of hygiene products. If these aren’t adhered to, an account can, in some cases, be blocked. Amazon is increasingly reliant on the self-services of vendors and sellers, but it is also important for everyday businesses to stay informed. 

In our newsletter, Remazing News Package, we keep you up to date with all the latest Amazon updates every two weeks. 

5. Customers’ demands are increasing

It is not just Amazon customers that are becoming more demanding: It’s now the standard in e-commerce that products are sometimes delivered in a few hours or even minutes, that there are no delivery charges to be paid, and that refunding of product purchases is as uncomplicated as possible. 

Amazon has always been very customer focused, and does everything it can to ensure customer satisfaction. Therefore all sellers on Amazon platforms have to meet their high expectations for customer service. 

3 Requirements for Success on Amazon 

Before we deal with the details of Amazon Marketing, it is worth outlining the platform’s basic requirements.

There are three factors that have to be considered, in order to be successful with your own products on Amazon. By paying attention to these aspects, the first required steps for marketing on the site have already been accomplished.

Price

Customers searching for products on Amazon are often very price-sensitive. Furthermore, there are often several sellers per product. As a result, there is intense competition and the product price has a significant influence on winning the buybox – and with that, on sales.

It is worth comparing with existing competitors in the respective product category to strategically set your own price: If your own product is clearly more expensive than average, then additional unique features, very positive reviews or a strong brand are necessary to succeed. If your own product is however cheaper than the competition, you have the opportunity to largely position yourself based on price – nevertheless the quality must always be taken into account (See point 3). 

Prime Delivery

According to current reports, at the beginning of 2021, over 200 million Amazon customer worldwide are Prime users and this number is rising fast… Prime users actively filter out products that are available with Prime delivery. In order to not be irrelevant to this large number of customers from the outset, the ability to deliver should always be available and Prime delivery offered wherever possible.

Quality

It is very difficult to make products with quality deficiencies successful on Amazon. Clear distinguishing features and a high product quality make long term marketing success possible – because even the best quality content can’t cover up an inadequate product! 

How the Amazon Marketplace Works 

The most important indicator of success on Amazon depends on the goal of each company: For the majority, it’s turnover and therefore the overarching goal is to increase it.

It’s important that in doing so, the chosen strategies are as sustainable as possible. The primary focus should be on the optimisation of organic search results. This activity is referred to as “Amazon Search Engine Optimisation” (Amazon SEO). The goal is to achieve a good ranking for relevant search terms in the long run.

Just like with Google, it’s crucial for success to be displayed on the first page of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – On Amazon that corresponds to around the first 20 to 60 positions (Depending on the category and number of ads). These products are bought more often than average, whilst usually products on subsequent pages find it much tougher. A study revealed that 70% of customers only look at the first page of the Amazon search results. The ranking is determined by Amazon’s A9 Algorithm.

Opportunities for Optimisation in Amazon Marketing 

In Amazon marketing it’s important to pay attention to the numerous relevant success factors and to involve them in your own planning. It isn’t enough to focus on individual aspects, however, if you want to get the most out of your marketing measures, you shouldn’t limit yourself to Amazon SEO just in the sense of content optimisation. It is important to understand Amazon and its many marketing possibilities as a whole.

A Holistic Approach to Amazon Marketing

For example, activating advertising campaigns for products whose content isn’t fully optimised is a waste of valuable potential sales. Similarly, if you optimise just product relevant content, but underestimate the importance of product reviews, you may fulfill the requirements for improving visibility but may encounter difficulties when it comes to competition for popular keywords. If you optimise content, generate reviews, and set efficient campaigns, but neglect data tracking, you won’t be able to detect important changes and will face problems in the long run. 

Remazing’s Strategy as an Amazon Agency: Our 360° Approach 

At Remazing we take a holistic approach towards Amazon Marketing: In our experience, brands can only fully maximise the sales potential of a product with this holistic approach.

To do this, it’s recommended to tackle the optimisation of a product step by step. In order to reduce the complexity of the observable factors, we have developed a simple model, that can illustrate the relationship between them. In our pyramid, the relevant areas of Amazon marketing are represented by five levels which build upon one another.

Strategy

The formulation of a strategy is the first step towards being successful in the online marketplace. First of all, you must determine the account setup to be used when selling on Amazon: Vendor or Seller – or a hybrid model? Sellers in particular have to deal primarily with numerous logistical questions whilst Vendors should prepare themselves for negotiations with Amazon.

On a product level, a market analysis should be carried out before launching. This can be determined by means of a differentiation strategy as well as with adapted marketing measures.

Content

We see the optimisation of content as a central component of a successful Amazon strategy. Through the appropriate optimisation measures, products become visible to potential buyers. Success here comes through the integration of relevant search terms in the right places on the product detail page: In the title, in the bullet points, in the description and in the (invisible) backend keywords (search terms). 

The goal for brands on Amazon should be to stand out from the crowd through engaging brand content. The branding is further strengthened through A+ Content and having your own brand store on the marketplace: Both options bring customers into the world of the brand and can be designed to reflect the brand corporate identity. A large part of the traffic on Amazon is generated from mobile devices. Since product images on a mobile display now play a very important role, it’s essential to carry out graphics optimisation. We recommend that a customer can make a purchase decision solely by viewing the images of a product. To do that, the most important benefits and features of a product have to be conveyed visually. This can sustainably boost the conversion rate.

Reviews

Especially during product launches, reviews play a pivotal role in order to be pushed up towards the front of the ranking. The Amazon-Tester Club Vine can help with generating the first reviews for a product. Furthermore, responding to questions and reviews (hopefully a feature that will soon be possible again), can raise the buyers’ trust in your products. In addition to this, reviews are also a valuable source of learnings regarding customer preferences and purchase behaviour. There are few other opportunities for free market research which is based on such authentic customer feedback.

Advertising

With the aid of sponsored Ad-campaigns, you can place paid adverts on Amazon that further increase sales. The organic ranking of products will also be increased indirectly through doing this! The advertising of products that already have optimised content and positive reviews, leads to improved campaign performance. 

There is also the option with Amazon Demand Side Platform (DSP) to generate traffic through other platforms and websites and to draw the customer’s attention to one’s own product listing on Amazon or on an external website. 

Moreover, Amazon offers numerous deals that are very popular with customers. The best known example of these are Lightning Deals, Deal of the Day, and Best Deals. Additionally, there are big deal events, among which Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday are the best known. 

Monitoring

Amazon is a dynamic environment in which changes constantly emerge. Therefore the chosen optimisation measures must be both evaluated through the continual tracking of data, and also further developed with the aid of regular quality control checks and reportings. For this we have developed our own Amazon tool, Remdash, with which you can compile individual dashboards and reportings. It’s also possible to set up alarms, that trigger a message when there are changes in the performance of important KPIs. 

The Bottom Line: How to be Successful with Amazon Marketing 

The approaches discussed offer numerous opportunities to market your own products on Amazon. In the end, the most successful companies are those that take all aspects into account and exhaust all options.

A good position on Amazon should be targeted both organically and also with the help of advertising campaigns. The defined strategy first decides which goals there are and which approaches will achieve these. Optimised content and the active management of reviews then build the basis on which a finely detailed ad campaign can be built. Additionally the monitoring of one’s own products and of the competition is essential, to quickly react to ranking changes and to continually optimise in the future.